Some of the sources listed below as Starting Points include recent developments and can be used to browse for potential topics - look for recent CRS Reports, and find updates and new issues in Lexology Panoramic, Practical Law, and the Security Council Report.
Legal news and current awareness sources might give you suggestions for issues and cases to research for your comment.
American Society of International Law blogs:
Blogs and newsletters on national security:
Global Legal Monitor (Law Library of Congress): Includes legal news by topic or jurisdiction
Bloomberg Law news databases in international law practice areas, including:
Law360 and Westlaw have legal news in international tax and international trade.
Other International Law Blogs: Justia Blawgsearch, Opinio Juris, IntLawGrrls, EJIL: Talk!, International Law Observer
News sources with good world coverage: New York Times, NPR, CNN, BBC, The Guardian
For more information on checking whether your topic has been preempted, see the Preemption Checks page of this guide.
You might need to start with learning some basics about foreign or international law. These resources will also be useful as sources for your research project, for background and to lead you to other secondary and primary sources.
Oxford International Law databases:
Hein Online Foreign & International Law Databases:
Elgar Online Encyclopedias: Include the Elgar Encyclopedia of Private International Law, the Elgar Encyclopedia of International Economic Law, and the Elgar Encyclopedia of Comparative Law.
CRS Reports from the Congressional Research Service include background reports on topics of interest to Congress in US foreign relations, treaty practice, and other international law subjects. Find them in Congress.gov, everycrsreport.com, and a larger collection including older reports in ProQuest Congressional.
The Law Library of Congress also produces research reports for Congress on foreign, comparative, and international law topics.
Foreign Law Guide: Subscription database. Contains primary and secondary sources of foreign law for more than 170 jurisdictions, including subject listings with citations to major individual statutes for each country, and secondary sources by subject and jurisdiction.
Lexology Panoramic: Reports by jurisdiction and practice area on issues in tax, data protection, banking, commercial law, trade, and intellectual property, with summaries of the law and citations to laws, regulations, and cases, and a jurisdiction comparison feature. Also available on Bloomberg Law and on Lexis.
Practical Law Global Guides and Cross-Border Topics (Westlaw): Q&A Guides by topic and jurisdiction in practice areas including banking, competition law, insolvency, international trade, and employment law, with a country comparison tool.
ICLG Legal Guides and Global Legal Insights are other collections of legal guides by commercial law topic and jurisdiction.
Security Council Report: Tracks issues considered by the UN Security Council and collects the relevant Security Council Reports and other documents.
Use our study aid collections to provide an introduction to international law and other legal subject areas. Find online versions of some study aids in the West Academic, Lexis Digital Library, and Aspen Learning Library packages. Some of the available study aids for international law include:
Principles Of International Law
by
International Law Frameworks
by
Understanding International Law
by
Public International Law in a Nutshell
by
International Environmental Law in a Nutshell
by
International Human Rights in a Nutshell
by
As you work on your spading assignments, you will encounter unfamiliar citations, and you will want to properly cite materials in your own work. In addition to the resources listed on the Citation Assistance page of this guide, here are some citation resources specific to foreign and international materials:
Bluebook Rules 20 and 21 and T2 are on citations to foreign and international law. The T2 tables on foreign jurisdictions are available free on the Bluebook Online. The Bluebook Online can be searched, which helps in finding unfamiliar citations.
But if you need more help:
The Greenbook: International Citator and Research Guide: 6-volume set with citation rules for foreign and international materials. Service Desk-Reference collection:K89 .I58 2018
Raistrick’s Index to Legal Citations & Abbreviations (British, with more UK and European citations than the Bluebook): KD400 .R35 2013
University of Minnesota Frequently-Cited Treaties guide with citation form
Oxford Law Citator (Max Planck Encyclopedias of International Law and Oxford Law Reports): Mouse over or click on linked document names to retrieve a full citation. Not in Bluebook form, but will include the information you need to cite the document.
Unsure how to cite an international document or publication? Search law journals on Westlaw or Lexis to see how other journal articles have cited it.
You will want to find digitized materials as PDF images of the original or official document when you can, so you can be sure that the text and page citation of the original matches the citation you are checking, and so you can save and share the document. Not every resource is available online, and those that are may not be available in page image formats. In addition to the resources provided in the Spading page of this guide, some additional resources particular to the Emory International Law Review include:
Hein Online collections with documents in PDF, including:
The Making of Modern Law databases have digitized historical treatises and primary materials, including foreign materials.
United Nations Documents and United Nations Treaties
Official Journal of the European Union
Judgments and orders of the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court
Official Gazettes and primary documents for many countries are online, frequently in PDF. Find links using the Law Library of Congress: Guide to Law Online: Nations of the World or the Foreign Law Guide database. The Bluebook's T2 tables for foreign jurisdictions include links to many foreign law sources as well.
You might also try using Google Advanced Search, narrowing by file type to PDF, and by site or domain (for instance, un.org).
Use the law library's research guides to find resources and links specific to foreign and international law. Seminar and course guides in particular may include updated and specialized resources on foreign and international law topics. Research guides from Woodruff Library may also address foreign and international law and include databases available at Emory.
Other collections of research guides you might find helpful include:
Faculty Research Question?
Please complete our Faculty Request form.
Student Research Question?
Please complete our Student Research Request form.
Still have questions?
Stop by our Reference Desk to chat with us in person.
MacMillan Library Hybrid Research Services:
Monday - Friday: 9am - 5pm
Saturday - Sunday: Closed
MacMillan Library Building Hours (May 12, 2025 - August 18, 2025)*:
Monday - Friday: 9am - 6pm
Saturday - Sunday: Closed
*Closed Friday, July 4, 2025
Reference Desk:
Monday: 1pm - 3pm
Tuesday: 1pm - 3pm (Virtual only)
Wednesday: 10am - 12pm
Thursday: 10am - 12pm (Virtual only)
Friday: Closed
Saturday and Sunday: Closed
IT Help Desk:
Monday - Friday:
Saturday - Sunday: Closed
Emory Law Archives:
Physical archives: By appointment only.
Digital archives: More information available here.
Limited remote services are available on a case-by-case basis.
Questions? Email Anna Sturgill, Law Librarian for Archives and Assessment Services
